Lately, Gucci has been in the habit of appointing hard-won career designers to an exalted status. Alessandro Michele, for example, was at Gucci from 2002 – under the tutelage of Tom Ford – before being appointed creative director of the brand in 2015. Before this appointment, Michele’s time at Gucci was a zig-zag across different departments – each seeded with more leadership – and thus, his career is an example of the many minds and hands behind a fashion house. Few ever get to be its shining star. 

On 23rd November 2022, Gucci and Alessandro Michele announced their parting ways; much to the shock of the fashion industry – and not so, to others. Michele had taken Gucci further than Patrizia or Paolo could have ever imagined – and he guided a continued revival of the brand that was started by Tom Ford in the late 90s and early 2000s. Gucci as a brand made besties with Gen-Zs, celebrities and culture; and the house became a mainstay of gender fluidity, inclusivity, diversity on and off the runway- alongside exceptional collaboration with unlikely peers such as North Face and Palace. Michele’s Gucci was a fantastical dreamscape for a rising cast of creative kids with a penchant for monograms, while still honouring the integral codes of the house – Italian, quality, tailoring etc. Except with Michele in the last few years, many have echoed that  it has felt tired. Denoting so much of his own particular aesthetic and values- vintage-eclecticism, rock ‘n roll nostalgia and freedom – this became more of a code for Gucci, than the idea that a luxury fashion brand has an identity of its own. You see, the ‘House’ has to outlive the creative director. It cannot be consumed by the vision of one person – nor can its director’s taste be totally synonymous with the label. Creative directors are required to be totally precise in the dissemination of their personal design skill and intention, through the exact framework of what the house is, as THE house.

Alessandro on redcarpet by Rob Latour/Shutterstock

Now, news has since dropped that Sabato de Sarno will lead the vision of Gucci. Perhaps not a household name, de Sarno has been at Valentino for 13 years, shaping and codifying its place in the contemporary fashion lexicon. This reshuffle is briefly touched on by Jess Cartner-Morley, who wrote for the Guardian, “Events at Gucci have been moving fast, as the brand undergoes a shake-up to turnaround “brand fatigue” blamed for the house being overshadowed in growth last year by Kering Group’s stablemate Saint Laurent.”

We will have to wait eight months before de Sarno’s official debut in September for Fall/Winter 2024 – for now, Gucci’s direction is led by its wider team in a joint-effort to fill the liminal vacuum between leadership. Personally, we are excited – Michele was fabulous, but everything changes – and unless a brand is entirely a designer’s own namesake and business, moving on is usually healthy for everyone involved. We bid farewell to Michele for stellar work – sartorially and socially, he is forever an icon.

Runway Image by Gorunway.com
Sabato de Serna photographed by Riccardo Raspa

Written by: Holly Beaton

Published: 31 January 2023